April 19, 2023

ADVISORY OPINION 2023-01

Brian G. Svoboda

Antoinette M. Fuoto 

Perkins Coie LLP

700 13th Street, NW

Suite 800

Washington, DC 20005-3960

Dear Mr. Svoboda and Ms. Fuoto:

We are responding to your advisory opinion request on behalf of U.S. 

Representative Nanette Diaz Barragán regarding the application of the Federal Election 

Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101-45 (the “Act”), and Commission regulations to the 

proposed use of campaign funds to pay certain travel expenses incurred in connection 

with events held by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (“CHC”) — specifically, the 

travel expenses for CHC members, staff, and other invited event participants. The 

Commission concludes that the proposed use of campaign funds for these travel expenses 

is permissible under the Act and Commission regulations because the expenses are 

ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with Representative Barragán’s 

duties as a federal officeholder.1

1 While this advisory opinion was pending, the Commission received two letters from 

Representative Bryan Steil, Chairman of the Committee on House Administration of the U.S. House of 

Representatives, regarding that Committee’s regulations and Representative Barragán’s advisory opinion 

request. In responding to the advisory opinion request, the Commission limits its analysis to the Act and 

regulations issued thereunder, and expresses no opinion concerning the application of the Rules of the U.S. 

House of Representatives or the rules or regulations of any Committee of the House of Representatives, 

including the Committee on House Administration and the House Committee on Ethics, nor does the 

Commission express any opinion concerning the application of any other federal, state, or local laws, rules, 

or regulations that may be implicated by the proposed activities, because those questions are not within the 

Commission’s jurisdiction.

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20463
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Background 

The facts presented in this advisory opinion are based on your letter received on 

February 2, 2023, emails dated February 16 and February 21, 2023, and publicly 

available information. 

Representative Barragán serves California’s 44th Congressional District in the 

U.S. House of Representatives.2 Her principal campaign committee is Barragán for 

Congress.3

 

Representative Barragán is the Chair of the CHC, which is an official 

Congressional Membership Organization.4

 These organizations are subject to the 

regulations promulgated by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House 

Administration and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.5

 The 

Committee on House Administration considers Congressional Membership 

Organizations, like the CHC, to be “extensions of the individual offices of participating 

Members, who assist the [Congressional Membership Organization] in carrying out its 

legislative objectives.”6

As CHC Chair, Representative Barragán is “driv[ing] the planning” of a series of 

policy events that will take place throughout the country.7 The purpose of these events is 

to “allow CHC Members to hear directly from constituents and stakeholders on issues of 

importance to Latino communities and to discuss the legislative and policy work of the 

CHC and its Members.”8 Representative Barragán states that these “will be official 

events, helping the CHC and its Members to develop their legislative agenda and 

implement their official objectives.”9 

2

 Advisory Opinion Request (“AOR”) at AOR001; see also Nanette Diaz Barragán, About Nanette, 

https://barragan.house.gov/about (last visited Mar. 2, 2023). 

3

 AOR001; see also Barragán for Congress, Statement of Organization, FEC Form 1 (May 4, 2015),

https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/674/15031422674/15031422674.pdf. 

4

 AOR001; see also Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Announces 

Leadership for 118th Congress, https://chc.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressional-hispaniccaucus-announces-leadership-for-118th-congress (last visited Mar. 2, 2023). 

5

 AOR001-2; see also Committee on Ethics, Official Support Organizations, 

https://ethics.house.gov/official-outside-organizations/official-support-organizations#org_fnote4 (“Official 

Support Organizations”) (last visited Mar. 2, 2023). 

6

 AOR002; see also Official Support Organizations, supra note 5. 

7

 AOR002.

8

 Id. 

9

 AOR004.
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The CHC events will be formatted as townhalls, listening sessions, or roundtables,

where some CHC members will serve as speakers or headliners and answer questions 

from the audience.10 CHC also plans to invite individuals who are not CHC members

(such as non-CHC Members of Congress, members of the current administration, and 

public policy experts) to serve as speakers and headliners at these events.

11 Like the 

CHC participants, these non-CHC participants would serve as a “draw” to raise public 

interest in the events and encourage attendance.

12

As CHC Chair and the primary planner of these events, Representative Barragán 

says she is “deeply invested in [the events’] success, which depends in no small part on 

CHC Member participation.”13 But, she adds, CHC has no travel budget.

14 To enable 

CHC Members, other speakers or headliners, and necessary administrative staff to attend 

the events “regardless of the limited resources available,” Representative Barragán 

proposes to offer to use funds from her principal campaign committee to pay their

ordinary and necessary travel expenses.

15 Representative Barragán asserts that her 

committee would pay the travel expenses only of CHC Members and other speakers or 

headliners participating in a CHC event and administrative staff facilitating the CHC 

event;16 only if the primary purpose of their travel is to participate in the event;

17 and 

only if they have agreed not to engage in any campaign activity during their trip other 

than through incidental contacts.

18 The House Ethics Committee has informally advised 

Representative Barragán that her proposed use of campaign funds is permissible under 

House Rules.19 

10 AOR002, 6-7.

11 AOR006-7.

12 Id.

13 AOR002.

14 Id.

15 Id. Such travel expenses could include airfare, lodging, and taxi or car service. Id.

16 AOR005-7; The requestor does not seek to pay travel expenses of any other potential attendees, 

such as spouses or children of event participants. AOR006-7. 

17 AOR006-7.

18 AOR002. 

19 AOR001.
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Question Presented

May Barragán for Congress pay for CHC Members and other individuals who 

will serve as speakers or headliners at official CHC events and staff facilitating the 

events to travel to attend official CHC events?

Legal Analysis 

The Act and Commission regulations would not prohibit Barragán for Congress

from using campaign funds to pay for CHC Members and other individuals who will 

serve as speakers or headliners at official CHC events and staff facilitating the events to 

travel to attend official CHC events. Under the Act, such travel expenses would be 

ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with Representative Barragán’s 

duties as a holder of federal office.

The Act permits a federal officeholder to use campaign funds for a variety of 

enumerated purposes, including for “ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in 

connection with the duties of the individual as a holder of Federal office,”20 and for “any 

other lawful purpose” that does not constitute conversion of campaign funds to “personal 

use.”21 The Act defines “personal use” as the use of campaign funds “to fulfill any 

commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist irrespective of the 

candidate’s election campaign or individual’s duties as a holder of Federal office.”22

The Act and Commission regulations provide a non-exhaustive list of expenses

that would constitute prohibited personal use per se if paid with campaign funds, none of 

which applies here.23 The Commission determines on a case-by-case basis whether the 

use of campaign funds to pay other expenses, such as the travel expenses at issue here, 

would be “personal use” under the Act.24 The Commission has long recognized that if a 

candidate or federal officeholder “can reasonably show that the expenses at issue resulted 

from campaign or officeholder activities, the Commission will not consider the use [of 

campaign funds to pay those expenses] to be personal use.”25

20 52 U.S.C. § 30114(a)(2); see also 11 C.F.R. § 113.2(a).

21 52 U.S.C. § 30114(a)(6), (b)(1); see also 11 C.F.R. § 113.2(e).

22 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2); see also 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g).

23 See 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2)(A)-(I); 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(i).

24 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(ii)(C). 

25 Personal Use of Campaign Funds, 60 Fed. Reg. 7862, 7867 (Feb. 9, 1995). Indeed, the 

Commission has approved the use of campaign funds for a range of expenses resulting from officeholder 

activities. See, e.g., Advisory Opinion 2022-25 (Crapo) (approving use of campaign funds for residential 

security installations because officeholder was subject to security threats arising from status as federal 

officeholder); Advisory Opinion 1997-11 (Roybal-Allard) (approving use of campaign funds for 

officeholder to complete language immersion course to improve communication with constituents).
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The Commission has previously approved proposals by federal officeholders to 

utilize their campaign funds to pay for others to travel to official events when the events 

were directly related to the officeholder’s duties and the attendance of those individuals 

was necessary for the execution of the event. For example, in Advisory Opinion 1996-45 

(Roybal-Allard), the Commission concluded that a Member of Congress could use her 

campaign funds to pay the travel and hotel expenses of speakers and consultants who 

would lead a seminar that she was hosting in her “official capacity as a Member of 

Congress.”26 The seminar would focus on racial sensitivity, and the requestor planned to 

invite representatives of nonprofit, community-based organizations and city agencies 

from her district to attend because of the demographic diversity of their clientele.

27 The 

Commission determined that the use of funds to pay the speakers’ travel and hotel 

expenses was an “ordinary and necessary expense related to the conduct of the seminar,” 

and the seminar was “connected to [the requestor’s] duties as a Federal officeholder” 

because of “the community service nature of the seminar . . . and its direct relationship 

to public policy matters that are of concern to Members of Congress.”28 The 

Commission thus concluded that the requestor’s use of campaign funds to pay the 

speakers’ travel expenses would be permissible under the Act and Commission 

regulations.29

Similarly, in Advisory Opinion 1997-02 (Skaggs/LaHood), the Commission 

concluded that Members of Congress could use campaign funds to pay for their children 

to travel to and attend an official congressional retreat that sought “to improve the 

effectiveness and quality of the legislative environment in the House of 

Representatives.”30 The retreat included programming specifically designed for the 

children, and the retreat sponsors stressed the importance of full family participation in 

the event.31 The Commission found that the retreat was directly related to the Members’ 

official responsibilities because “[l]egislation is the principal bona fide official 

responsibility of each Member of Congress.”32 Accordingly, the “costs of traveling to 

(and from) and attending the retreat would not exist absent each Member’s duties as a 

Federal officeholder.”33 Further, because full family participation was “necessary for the 

26 Advisory Opinion 1996-45 (Roybal-Allard) at 1. For this event, the speakers and consultants 

offered their services for free on the condition that their transportation and lodging expenses were covered. 

Id.

27 Id.

28 Id. at 2.

29 Id. The Commission assumed that the requestor would expend campaign funds “only for the 

consultants’ travel expenses directly connected with the seminar and not for expenses incurred by them that 

are unrelated to seminar travel or to their subsistence during the seminar.” Id.

30 Advisory Opinion 1997-02 (Skaggs/LaHood) at 4.

31 Id. at 2, 4.

32 Id. at 4. 
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successful execution” of the event, the Commission concluded that the use of campaign 

funds to pay the travel expenses and attendance fees of Members’ children was 

permissible under the Act and Commission regulations.34 

Representative Barragán’s proposal to use campaign funds to enable speakers, 

headliners, and necessary administrative staff to travel to and participate in CHC events is 

consistent with these prior advisory opinions. As in Advisory Opinion 1996-45 (RoybalAllard) and Advisory Opinion 1997-02 (Skaggs/LaHood), the events in question will be

directly connected to the requestor’s duties as a federal officeholder. The CHC is an 

official Congressional Membership Organization subject to the regulations promulgated 

by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration and the U.S. 

House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.35 The proposed events will be official 

CHC events, formatted as townhalls, listening sessions, or roundtables, designed to 

“allow CHC Members to hear directly from constituents and stakeholders on issues of 

importance to Latino communities and to discuss the legislative and policy work of the 

CHC and its Members.”36 As Chair of the CHC, Representative Barragán’s official 

duties include assisting the CHC in carrying out its legislative objectives.37 The CHC 

events will be designed to facilitate these objectives by promoting engagement and 

communication with constituents and stakeholders on the legislative and policy matters

of the CHC and its members.

38 The Commission has previously recognized that 

legislation and public policy are bona fide official responsibilities of Members of 

Congress.39 Accordingly, the events in question will be directly connected to 

Representative Barragán’s duties as a federal officeholder.

Further, the proposed travel expenses are for individuals whose attendance is 

necessary for the successful execution of the CHC events. In Advisory Opinion 1997-02 

(Skaggs/LaHood), the Commission concluded that Members of Congress could use 

campaign funds to pay the travel expenses for persons whose attendance was “necessary 

33 Id.

34 Id.; see also Advisory Opinion 2005-09 (Dodd) (approving use of campaign funds for travel 

expenses of U.S. Senator’s minor children to accompany Senator and spouse travelling to functions directly 

connected to Senator’s bona fide official responsibilities); Advisory Opinion 1996-20 (Lucas) (approving 

use of campaign funds for chief of staff to travel to national party convention to attend policy briefings and 

function as liaison with congressional office).

35 AOR001-2; see also Official Support Organizations, supra note 5.

36 AOR002.

37 AOR001-2; see also Official Support Organizations, supra note 5.

38 AOR002.

39 Advisory Opinion 1997-02 (Skaggs/LaHood) at 4 (“Legislation is the principal bona fide official 

responsibility of each Member of Congress.”); Advisory Opinion 1996-45 (Roybal-Allard) at 2 (concluding 

that community service event was connected to the requestor’s duties as federal officeholder given its 

“direct relationship to public policy matters that are of concern to Members of Congress”).
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for the successful execution” of the event.40 And in Advisory Opinion 1996-45 (RoybalAllard), the Commission concluded that travel expenses for speakers and consultants to 

participate in a seminar hosted by a Member of Congress in her official capacity were 

“ordinary and necessary expense[s] related to the conduct of the seminar.”41 Likewise, 

here, Representative Barragán’s request to use campaign funds extends only to travel 

expenses for individuals serving in speaker or headliner roles and CHC staff 

administering the event. Representative Barragán further asserts that her committee 

would pay travel expenses only if the primary purpose of the travel is to participate in the 

CHC event and the expenses are directly connected to the event.

42 The campaign will not 

pay for any personal or collateral expenses.43 Further, travelers must agree that they will 

not engage in any campaign-related activity during their trip.44 Under these 

circumstances, the Commission concludes that the proposed travel expenses will be

ordinary and necessary expenses related to the successful execution of the CHC events. 

Accordingly, the Commission concludes that the Act and Commission 

regulations would not prohibit Barragán for Congress from using campaign funds to pay 

the travel expenses of CHC members and other individuals who will serve as speakers or 

headliners at these official CHC events and staff facilitating the events. 

This response constitutes an advisory opinion concerning the application of the 

Act and Commission regulations to the specific transaction or activity set forth in your 

request.45 The Commission emphasizes that, if there is a change in any of the facts or 

assumptions presented, and such facts or assumptions are material to a conclusion 

presented in this advisory opinion, then the requestor may not rely on that conclusion as 

support for its proposed activity. Any person involved in any specific transaction or 

activity which is indistinguishable in all its material aspects from the transaction or 

activity with respect to which this advisory opinion is rendered may rely on this advisory 

opinion.46 Please note that the analysis or conclusions in this advisory opinion may be 

affected by subsequent developments in the law including, but not limited to, statutes, 

regulations, advisory opinions, and case law. Any advisory opinions cited herein are 

available on the Commission’s website.

40 Advisory Opinion 1997-02 (Skaggs/LaHood) at 4.

41 Advisory Opinion 1996-45 (Roybal-Allard) at 2.

42 Id.; AOR006-7.

43 AOR006-7.

44 AOR002. 

45 See 52 U.S.C. § 30108.

46 See id. § 30108(c)(1)(B).
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On behalf of the Commission,

Dara Lindenbaum, 

Chair